Harry Styles has had his fair share of relationships with American girls, from Olivia Wilde to his current rumored girlfriend Zoë Kravitz. However, that isn’t what really inspired “American Girls,” from his new album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occassionally. Instead, the singer reflects on his own love life, imagining what would happen if he settled down (with an American girl, naturally).
In a recent interview on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show, Styles described “American Girls” as “quite a lonely song in a lot of ways,” inspired by his three closest friends getting married. “Actually seeing them trust in something and risk something to find something truly fulfilling,” he reflected, “I was like, I’m single, so I’m having all the fun.”
Styles sets the scene by abstractly describing a bride walking down the aisle and celebrating his friends’ happy endings, repeating “My friends are in love with American girls” like a mantra, before invoking their suggestion that he just get married. “Her sweet eyes, your temptations,” he sings. “Don’t deny her frustrations, just spend your life with those American girls.”
Speaking to Lowe, Styles said watching his friends get hitched was just one thing that made him question his future, admitting he wants to settle down with a partner and children, and “have great friendships with people.”
“If you’re touring all the time and you’re doing this all the time and all these things, there’s no space to really choose,” he said. “I don’t want to be the guy who’s on his own but was like, ‘Oh, I really did it.’ I want to be fulfilled, and I want to be in great relationships with people. I want a family. It just allowed me to go like, OK, what do I have to do to create space to allow these things to happen? I can’t just expect them to just happen to me.”
Harry Styles’ “American Girls” Lyrics
Read the full lyrics to Styles’ contemplative new song below.
Right at home
It’s perfect timing
A face that knows
A perfect lighting
‘Cause time will show
That you should try it
Those American girls you spend your life with
“I’ve known you for ages,” it’s all that I’ve heard
My friends are in love with American girls
I’ve seen it in stages all over the world
My friends are in love with American girls
“I’ve known you for ages,” it’s all that I’ve heard
My friends are in love with American girls (American girls)
Her sweet eyes
Your temptations
Don’t deny
Her frustrations
Just spend your life
With those American girls
“I’ve known you for ages,” it’s all that I’ve heard
My friends are in love with American girls
I’ve seen it in stages all over the world
My friends are in love with American girls
I’ve known you for ages
American girls
American girls
(American girls, American girls)
American girls all over the world
“I’ve known you for ages,” it’s all that I’ve heard
My friends are in love with American girls
I’ve seen it in stages all over the world
My friends are in love with American girls
American girls, American girls
American girls, American girls
